Tuesday was a momentous day for the northern beaches community, with the announcement that the New South Wales Government has reached an agreement to buy the Northern Beaches Hospital, bringing it back into the public health system. Thanks to my Health Services Amendment (Northern Beaches Hospital Deed Termination) Bill 2025, the taxpayers of New South Wales got it at a fair price of $190 million rather than the $800 million to $900 million Healthscope would possibly have been entitled to under the original, poorly drafted deed. To be honest, even one year ago that outcome seemed a remote possibility. We are here today because a whole range of forces have been pushing in the same direction: families bravely coming forward with stories of failures in standards of care, foremost the Massa family; the Auditor‑General's performance audit, which I was proud to initiate, that found the hospital was "not effectively delivering the best quality integrated health services"; and the many staff from across the hospital who bravely raised their voice. The financial decline of Healthscope was also a critical factor.

With change comes uncertainty and, in some ways, the work is just beginning as the reintegration and reconfiguration of the hospital into the public system occurs. I appreciate that some staff and community members are apprehensive about it. I am fully committed to listening, raising concerns and seeking commitments as the transition process plays out over the coming months. I like to think that I have a good track record of doing that, given where we are now with the hospital. It started years ago. I have already sought and been given a commitment that the Northern Beaches Hospital will remain a level 5 facility and that there will be no reduction in bed numbers. I am seeking further commitments about retention of lifesaving interventional services at the hospital, particularly catheterisation lab cardiac services.

Following the announcement on Tuesday, I am pushing for frequent and comprehensive communication from NSW Health with the over 2,000 staff at the hospital about the next steps from here. I ask NSW Health to lead. Do not create a vacuum. There are also legitimate concerns about the retention of private services at the hospital in order to maintain choice and access for private patients. I emphasise that the operating model for the hospital, including the future configuration of private services, has not been decided. Ideally, I want to see the best aspects of the current Northern Beaches Hospital maintained, including private services, while the parts that have been squeezed under the privatised model are finally properly resourced. The Government has committed to meaningfully engage with staff and clinicians at the hospital to develop the operating model going forward, and I will be making sure that happens. I have full confidence in the Minister for Health to do that, because that is exactly what he has done to date.

Stepping back and reflecting overall, I am absolutely thrilled about what it means for our local community. With the announcement, we build on the legacy of the former Mona Vale and Manly public hospitals. For so many on the northern beaches, the former Mona Vale and Manly hospitals hold a special place in our hearts. Those hospitals are where some of the biggest moments in our lives have occurred, including births, deaths, serious illness, responding to a sudden shocking accident and the joy that comes with leaving the hospital. With the opening of the Northern Beaches Hospital in 2018, we got a brand-new hospital and an uplift to a level 5 facility, but it was privately operated. Despite serious and ultimately well-founded reservations about the model, local medical staff have done an extraordinary job. They have done their best to make it work. The excellent care that so many, including me, have received over the past seven years is a testament to them. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.

With the return of the Northern Beaches Hospital to public hands, we will finally get the truly public hospital that the people of the northern beaches were always promised. On Friday last week the Public Accounts Committee held its first hearing of its inquiry into the quality and safety of the Northern Beaches Hospital. I asked both senior local doctors and the head of the Northern Sydney Local Health District about what they think the opportunities are of returning the hospital to the public system. They both gave fulsome answers, which reinforced my confidence that it is a positive development. They mentioned the multiple benefits of being integrated into the broader public health network, particularly having a seamless electronic medical record system; being part of New South Wales Government programs and policies, such as Birthrate Plus in maternity and safe staffing ratios for nurses; and being better connected to NSW Health outpatient services in the community.

For staff, it will mean better pay conditions. For patients, it will mean better resourced care. For me, as a local member, it will mean greater transparency and accountability, which is what I have been seeking all along. I will have visibility and access to the Government in a way I have never had with Healthscope. For all on the northern beaches, it will mean they will arrive at their local hospital knowing it is being run by the State of New South Wales in the public interest. I have always felt uncomfortable about having a private company's logo on the sign out the front of our public hospital. I know many others in the community feel the same way. That chapter for the northern beaches is coming to a close. I will not rest until positive outcomes are delivered.

Read the entire Private Members Statement here.